It had been a long time since they'd done anything as a family for the holidays. Zuko glanced over at an old family Christmas photo. It would be just he and his mom this year.

Katara, Aang and Sokka all had plans to go back to the water tribes and enjoy some good old fashioned snow. Who could blame them, what was Christmas without snow?

A Fire Nation Christmas, he answered himself.

He couldn’t complain, couldn’t miss something that never was.

Toph...being the whimsical girl she was decided she was going to take her student metal benders out for some 'mandatory musical metalbending'...rather some caroling all across the Earth Kingdoms—from Ba Sing Se to Omashu.

He couldn’t blame her for that either. She liked fun and adventure. He was happy for her, happy that she was well on her way to making the holidays more fun than ever before.

Zuko looked around the palace, he didn't know where to start with the decorating. He would have asked Ursa, but the woman was out Chrismas shopping—that would probably take a night or two between the crowds and the travel-time. He tried to get in...

Sokka went to visit the girl, everyone else seemed too afraid to do so. He figured that she must be so lonely concealed within that institution. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t afraid, but his heart got the best of him—if it was his sister he’d want someone to keep her company.

The girl that sat before him was anything but lucid; her eyes were tired yet so unfocused, always scanning the room. Eventually she’d stop looking around and fix her eyes on a single point in the room. Sometimes she’d laugh at whatever her eyes were trained on, other times whatever it was had her face twisting into an angry snarl.

Sometimes the girl would reach out for the unseen.

She seemed to be lost within herself.

She didn’t even seem to notice him standing there. Maybe she thought he was just a creation of her mind like everything else.

More than anything else, in that moment, he wanted to reach out and help her. Wanted to draw the madness out of her tiny, fragile body. But it seemed almost as if she enjoyed what was happening.

First OFF, I AM ENDOWED TO TELL YOU GUYS (HOPEFULLY FANS) THAT THIS IS MY FIRST TIME WRITING FAN FICTION, THUS I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH. YOU SEE, THIS IS SOMEWHAT LIKE A TEST DRIVE: I MAY PROLONG THE SERIES, EDIT THE ARTICLE TO FIT YOUR NEEDS, OR CREATE A WHOLE NEW SERIES IF REQUESTED. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS HIGHLY ACCEPTED AND ENCOURAGED. WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:
As per usual, Katara was absolutely furious with Zuko for even suggesting that Azula should live, and the fact that she lost her mother to the wrath of the fire nation didn’t help to extinguish the flame that was growing within her. Despite being a firebender, Zuko, now a changed person, couldn’t help but feel that Katara would never break down the ice cold barrier that lie between the two……….and that truly felt like a burn.
Extremely confused, Zuko stormed off to his bunker, contemplating how he could possibly choose between his sister (she’s maniacal, but still his sister, nonetheless) and an ally who’s trust he had been working to win over. He had to come up with a plan….. and fast, for Katara had an elaborate blueprint to obliterate Azula on the...